Mississippi politicians squabble over fate of anti-LGBT law

Mississippi's Democratic attorney general said Wednesday that he won't join the Republican governor in appealing a federal judge's ruling.

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS, Associated PressFriday, July 15, 2016

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi’s Democratic attorney general said Wednesday that he won’t join the Republican governor in appealing a federal judge’s ruling that blocked a state law on religious objections to gay marriage.

Attorney General Jim Hood said a continued legal fight would be “divisive and expensive” in a state that’s already struggling with a tight budget.

“Simply stated, all HB 1523 has done is tarnish Mississippi’s image while distracting us from the more pressing issues of decaying roads and bridges, underfunding of public education, the plight of the mentally ill and the need to solve our state’s financial mess,” Hood said in a statement.

Amid lobbying from Baptist and Pentecostal groups, the Republican-led Legislature passed House Bill 1523 this spring in response to last summer’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.

U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves blocked the measure moments before it was to become law July 1. Gov. Phil Bryant last week asked Reeves to reconsider the ruling and to let the law take effect while Bryant appeals to a higher court.

The law sought to protect three beliefs: That marriage is only between a man and a woman; that sex should only take place in such a marriage; and that a person’s gender is determined at birth and cannot be altered.

It would allow clerks to cite religious objections to recuse themselves from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and would protect merchants who refuse services to lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people. It could affect adoptions and foster care, business practices and school bathroom policies.

Reeves found that it unconstitutionally establishes preferred beliefs and creates unequal treatment for gay people.